Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ravelry

Today I thought I would share a resource that I have found very helpful. It's called "ravelry".

Ravelry is a website where a bunch of people share patterns and pictures of their knit and crochet projects. The best part is there are tons of free patterns. To visit the site click HERE. Often when I want to try a project I will go on to ravelry and print off a pattern. They also have reviews of different kinds of yarn. My friend Michelle introduced me to this site a while back and I love it!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hand Warmer Pattern


Simple Hand Warmer Gloves
***note: You can just follow the childrens pattern and use a larger hook size to make a larger set for women and men.***

Materials:

*1 skein any Worsted or Medium Weight yarn.

*Crochet Hook Size 5mm or 6 mm

*Yarn Needle

*Scissors

Remember to mark your rounds ! Since this pattern works in a
continuous round, it is crucial to mark the beginning of your next
round. I use a safety pin, but you could use another color of thread
or a special marker.


Pattern for Men


With H hook loosely ch-28 then join at first chain to form a loop
Round 1: dc in next 28 sts to marker (28 dc)
2 dc in next 12 sts, dc decrease, dc in next 12 sts, dc decrease (26 dc)
3 dc in next in next 26 sts to marker (26 dc)
4-10 hdc in next 26 sts. (make sure you mark each round)
11 dc in next 12 sts, 2dc in next st, 2 dc in next st., dc in next 12 (28)
12 sc next 28 sts (28 sc)
13 in next 14 sts, skip the next 8 sts, dc in back of next st, dc next 12 sts. (26 dc)
14 hdc to marker (26 hdc)
15 sc to marker, sl st, darn loose ends (26).

Pattern for Women

With H hook loosely ch-28 then join at first chain to form a loop
Round 1: dc in next 28 sts to marker (28 dc)
2 dc in next 12 sts, dc decrease, dc in next 12 sts, dc decrease (26 dc)
3 dc in next in next 26 sts to marker (26 dc)
4-10 hdc in next 26 sts. (make sure you mark each round)
11 dc in next 12 sts, 2dc in next st, 2 dc in next st., dc in next 12 (28)
12 sc next 28 sts (28 sc)
13 in next 14 sts, skip the next 8 sts, dc in back of next st, dc next 12 sts. (26 dc)
14 hdc to marker (26 hdc)
15 sc to marker, sl st, darn loose ends (26).

Pattern for Children

With H hook loosely ch-20 then join at first chain to form a loop
Round 1: dc in next 20 sts to marker (20)
2. dc in next 8 sts, dc decrease, dc in next 8 sts, dc decrease (18)
3. dc in next in next 18 sts to marker (18)
4-10. hdc in next 18 sts. (make sure you mark each round)
11. dc next 8 sts, 2dc in next st, 2 dc in next st., dc in next 8 (20)
12. sc next 20 sts (20).
13.dc in next 10 sts, skip next 5 sts, dc in back of next st, dc next 5 sts (15)
14. hdc to marker (15)
15. Sc to mark, sl st, darn loose ends (15)

Crocheting Hints

Here are some hints that I think are helpful for beginners :)

Chain- yarn over, pull through loop on hook

Single crochet (sc)– insert hook in stitch, yarn over, pull through stitch, yarn over, pull through both loops on hook

Single crochet decrease (sc dec) or (sc2tog) – insert hook, yarn over, draw up a loop, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, draw through all loops on hook

Half-double crochet (hdc)– yarn over hook, insert hook in next stitch,
yarn over, draw up a loop, yarn over, draw through all three loops on hook

Half-double crochet decrease (hdc dec) or (hdc2tog) - yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, draw up loop, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, draw up loop
(you will have four loops on hook), yarn over, draw through all
loops on hook .

Double crochet (dc)– yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over, draw
up loop, yarn over, pull through two loops, yarn over, draw through
last two loops

Double crochet decrease (dc dec) or (dc2tog) – yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, draw loop through, yarn over, draw through two loops on hook, yarn over, insert hook in next stitch, yarn over, draw up loop (you will have four loops on hook), yarn over, draw through two loops, yarn over, draw through remaining loops

Slip stitch (sl st) – insert hook in stitch, yarn over, pull through both loops on hook

*When a pattern calls for “ repeat * to * 4 times ”: This actually
means to do what is inside the stars (* *) first and then repeat what
you have just done 4 more times. Therefore, you actually do what is
inside the stars 5 times. Every pattern is different but the ones I have e-mailed to you I am following this rule.

*Remember to mark your rounds . . . Since a few pattern s I have sent work in a
continuous round, it is crucial to mark the beginning of your next
round. I use a safety pin, but you could use another color of year
or a special marker.

*I have found the best way to make a smaller size hat/glove or whatever you are crocheting is to use a smaller hook. For example if a pattern calls for a 11, 10 and 6 for a hat use a 10,9 and 5 and you will end up with a smaller hat! I love how simple it is :)

*I have knitted the patterns I sent to you with a variety of different kinds of yarn. Don't feel like you have to use the one called for in the pattern. If I use a thinner yarn for a hat I double it up...meaning you are working with 2 strings of yarn vs 1. That way your hat ends up nice and thick. My theory is use what you got!!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Pen Pal Details :)

There are a bunch of groups interested in having pen pals. Hooray! Here is what I need from each group interested. Please e-mail (Do not leave as a comment!) the following info on each YW wanting to participate...

Name:
Address:
Age:

I'm asking that you get me this info by Monday January 18th. I figure most of you will be able to get this info on Sunday. I will pair the girls according to age. I'm going to send out a letter to each girl participating with their pen pals info and something cute. Why? Because I love cute things and who doesn't love mail :) Let me know if you have any questions!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Penpals

Jennifer South from Idaho wrote me with this request "I have at least 3 Laurels and 1 Mia Maid who would love to be a pen pal with one of the girls from one of the wards involved with our "little" service project. Do you think any of the women would be interested in asking their YW if they would like to have a pen pal from Idaho?".

Anyone interested? I know when I was a Beehive I had a few pen pals and loved it. I think it's a fabulous idea and will make the girls feel more united! Let me know if you have YW who wants to do this. It's always fun getting to know new people.

Thanks!

Melinda

Pictures



Star, Idaho





Peachtree City, Georgia




CALDWELL, IDAHO





LUFKIN, TEXAS




HIGHLAND, CALIFORNIA



CLAREMORE, OKLAHOMA





VENTURE, CALIFORNIA




MENAN, IDAHO



BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS




BATTLEGROUND, WASHINGTON







UNITED KINGDOM, ENGLAND




TUCSON, ARIZONA




Project Memebers :)

Hey gals! I had 3 different people e-mail with the name "Heart to Heart" for this project. I like and I'm going to stick with it. If you want to call your project something else in your ward that is fine. I will update this list as we go. Check back to see the changes...

*Melinda Beachell & Michelle Weinberger from the Battleground Ward (Battleground, Washington)

*Tara Curtis from the Continental Ranch Ward (Tucson, Arizona)

*Sharon Wood from the ? Ward (Springs South Africa)

*Barbie Williams from the Highland 1st Ward (Highland, California)

*Shannon from the ? Ward ( ?, Florida)

*Wendy Jenson from the ? Ward (?)

*Amber Garvin from Chubbuck 3rd Ward (Chubbuck Idaho)

*Dawn Russo from the ? Ward (Claremore, Oklahoma)

*Janna Streibel from the Marsing 1st Ward (Caldwell, Idaho)

*Marye Eby from the Pilgrim's Landing 3rd Ward (Lehi, UT)

*Shelly Hawley from the Stockdale Ward (Bakersfield, California)

*Traci Pankratz From the Bitburg Military Ward (Germany)

*Vikki Playforth from the ? Ward (United Kingdom, England)

*Mary Pugh from the Weston 2nd Ward (Boston, Massachusetts)

*Allena Allread from the Warrenton Ward (Warrenton, Missouri)

*Julie Bradford from the Cedar Hills 14th Ward (Cedar Hills, UT)

*Coreen Phipps from the Copper Canon Ward (Surprise, Arizona)

*Jennifer South from the Menan 3rd Ward (Menan, Idaho)

*Debbie Orosco from the Ventura 2nd Ward (Ventura, California)

*Jullie Olenslager & Ginger Thompson from the Thayne 1st Ward (Thayne, Wyoming)

*Janell Horrocks from the Nehalem Ward (Vancouver, Washington)

*Beth Adams from Marysville 6th Ward (Seattle, Washington)

*Sunshine Seekins & Roselle Pliego from the 1st Ward (Lufkin, Texas)

*DaNeil Bybee, Myra Leatherman & Darlene Petersen from the 8th ward, Soda Springs, Idaho

*Julie Schock from the Whitewater Ward (Peachtree City, Georgia)

*Stacey Laney from the springfield 5th ward ward (Springfield, Missouri)

*Heather Rodebush from the Smithfield Branch (Smithfield, Virginia)

*Michelle Smith from the ? ward (Spanish Fork, Utah)

*Meagan Branch from the Bothwell Ward (Tremonton, Utah)

*Denyce Udink from the Star 3rd Ward (Star, Idaho)

*Rebecca Winspear from the ? Ward (Boise, Idaho)

*Racheal Collins from the ? Ward (?, ?)


THANKS!!!

Melinda

Quick and Easy Patterns

Darlene sent me a really cute idea that got me thinking. I'm going to share it with all of you but first share my thoughts. I realize some of the patterns I sent you will take longer than the space of what a YW activity will run. My hope is that some girls will be motivated enough to start working on these projects at home. Some people just want to finish a project in an hour. I understand that.. So...here are some crochet ideas that can be finished in an hour or less :)

This is the idea Darlene sent me. It's adorable. It can be used as a headband or when it's cold it can be used to keep your ears warm. It's a basic and easy pattern. Great for beginners. I'm going to try one!!

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=58&sid=5523597

These are the instructions...




Materials:


• Crochet Hook (any size you prefer!)
• Yarn
• Velcro, Snaps, Buttons or Ribbon
• Embellishments

Instructions:


1. Crochet a long row of chain stitches to fit the diameter or your head (I measure as I go).
2. When you reach your desired length, stop and continue on to the next row using a single crochet stitch.
3. Continue step two until you reach your desired width.
4. Sew ends together using a single stitch, or you can also attach using velcro, snaps, buttons, or ribbon!
5. Embellish with whatever materials you prefer (tulle, ribbon, buttons, wire, broaches, crocheted flowers, lace, etc.).

Another trend I have seen going on lately is what is called a scarflette. Basically it's a mini scarf that just goes around your neck and doesn't hang down. Here is a picture

Honestly I thought these were kind of ugly until I saw a woman at church wear one. It was crazy cute. You could even use the pattern above and just not sew it together. Use velcro instead of buttons and add a cute flower and you are set :) Here is the pattern for the one in the pic :)

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/555011/wool_scarflette_crochet_pattern.html?image=205057&cat=7

I hope these ideas are helpful :)

Melinda

Patterns

I've been crazy busy (I'm sure you all have too) and forgot to send out the patterns. I've attached them and why I'm at it I just want to give a few reminders. First a few words about the patterns. These are for service or personal use only. ***Please only give these patterns for your YW to use or for your own personal use. I got permission to use one I didn't write but with the conditions we would be doing service with it.*** If you have any questions or need help with the patterns please e-mail me or call me. I'm always around to help!(Not all patterns are posted for the reasons above. Please e-mail me at beachellfamily02(AT)hotmail.com

I know some of you are still trying to figure out how you will be able to participate in this project. If you would like me to take your name off the list just let me know. All these groups are going to look awesome on my picture map. I can't wait. Our YW are talking about this project nonstop :) That's a good thing!

Last of all if any of you have any ideas you would like to share...do it! I love ideas :)

Women's Conference: Choose Ye This Day‏

Something I always wanted to do is take our YW to general conference. It never happened with us but I really wanted the girls to have the experience of seeing and hearing the prophet in person. It's a really good experience. Yesterday I found this and I'm super excited for it!!!



It goes perfectly with our Year long service project!!! This project is seriously going to be awesome and so is this conference. I'm so going! I would love to see some of you fantastic ladies there. Young Women 16 and older can register to go also :) For those who don't know this event is put on by the General Relief Society. You get to hear wonderful speakers from the Relief Society presidency and last year we even had the opportunity of hearing Elder Perry speak. Go here (http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/) to learn more details and if you are going please let me know and we can meet each other!

Melinda

Warm Fuzzy Stories

Over the next week or so you will be recieving a few emails from me with more details and ideas for the service project. This is a long one :) I'm loving all the pictures I am getting of your groups. As soon as I have the majority of them I will send them out to you all. I think our YW will love to see them!

Currently I'm trying to come up with a name for our service project. Any ideas will be appreciated :) Something cute... Warm N' Fuzzy Service Project? I'm stumped! Let's just throw a bunch out there and something will inspire me....There are no bad ideas with me.



I talked to Dawn, one of the gals involved in the service project , yesterday. She mentioned she would be using the warm fuzzies and a story in her new beginnings. What a wonderful idea! I personally didn't even know there was a warm fuzzy story! This would be a great way to introduce the service project. Maybe even give each girl a cute little bag with some warm fuzzies inside?


Let me venture off topic for a moment....Now as I was thinking about this whole warm fuzzy approach the thought "this might be too primary" entered my head. I'm a sucker for cute stuff so are the YW. I can't tell you enough how adorable these warm fuzzies are. Also didn't we learn all the important stuff in primary? I sure did. I think I can sing a primary song that would teach just about every gospel principle :) Back to the story....

As I looked up the story online I found a few different versions and also Dawn was nice enough to e-mail me the two she had which I will include below.

This one is actually a book written by Claude M. Steiner. It's called "The Original Warm Fuzzy Tale"

* You can read the story here: http://www.claudesteiner.com/fuzzy.htm

Here is the the first version Dawn sent me...

Once upon a time there was a village. All of the people in the village got along very well. There was kindness, love, compassion, and justice. Every person in the village owned a special bag. It was given to them by their parents at the age of 3. Inside this bag were hundreds of warm fuzzies. Warm fuzzies were soft, cuddly, cottony little puffs. When you gave someone a warm fuzzy, they felt warm and fuzzy inside. People in the village gave each other warm fuzzies anytime they wanted to let someone know they were loved. When someone received a warm fuzzy, they put it in their bag.


One day, an evil sorceress came to town. She saw that everyone was giving out these warm fuzzies from their bags and she didn’t like it. She went up to one villager and said, “Why do you keep giving away your warm fuzzies? Aren’t you afraid you’re going to run out? Here, take this bag of cold pricklies and give these to the people in your village instead, and keep all your warm fuzzies for yourself.” The villager took the bag because he believed the sorceress’ tale. The next time he ran into a friend, he handed him one of the cold pricklies from his new bag. A cold prickly made someone feel cold and prickly inside, like they were swallowing a pin cushion. Soon all the villagers went to the sorceress and asked for their own bag of cold pricklies since they didn’t want to be the only people handing out warm fuzzies if everyone else was going to hand out cold pricklies. Once you had a cold prickly, you wanted to give it away to someone else as fast as possible.

The sorceress was pleased. Her plan was working perfectly. Now the village was in a state of fear and panic. Everyone started avoiding everyone else so they wouldn’t be given a cold prickly. People hoarded their small supply of warm fuzzies and didn’t give them out to anyone anymore. But no one was happy anymore either.

One day a prince arrived in town and almost immediately someone handed him a cold prickly from their bag. The prince, recognizing the cold prickly, refused to take it. The villager was surprised and tried again. The prince handed the person a warm fuzzy from his bag. The villager was surprised, and a little ashamed that he had tried to give this warm prince a cold prickly and instead received a warm fuzzy.

The prince addressed the crowd and said, “Why do you give each other cold pricklies?” One villager said, “Why should we give away all of our warm fuzzies? Shouldn’t we keep them for ourselves?” Other villagers agreed. But the prince said, “Every time you give away a warm fuzzy a new one is created in your own bag. Don’t you see? The more you give away, the more you will have.”

To demonstrate, the prince had everyone put down their bag of cold pricklies and retrieve their bag of warm fuzzies from their homes. He asked everyone to take out a warm fuzzy from their bag and hand it to a neighbor. This they did, but warily. Then the prince told them to notice that they all still had the same amount of warm fuzzies in their bags as before. People started giving away more warm fuzzies and noticed their bag was never empty. There were indeed enough warm fuzzies for everyone.

The sorceress was very upset and tried to interrupt the prince and get everyone to give out cold pricklies again. But the villagers didn’t want to listen anymore. They threw all their bags of cold pricklies into a wagon, set the sorceress inside it, and sent her out of town.
The villagers realized they’d learned a valuable lesson.

When you give someone a warm fuzzy, they in turn will give it to someone else. Eventually, it will come back around to you.

What do you carry in your bag?


SECOND VERSION



Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies




Long ago only little people lived on the Earth. Most of them dwelt in the little village of swabeedoo, and so they called themselves Swabeedoo-dahs. They were very happy little people and went about with broad smiles and cheery greetings for everybody. One of the things the Swabeedoo-dahs liked best was to give Warm Fuzzies to one another. Each of these little people carried over his shoulder a bag, and the bag was filled with Warm Fuzzies.

Now, it is especially nice to give someone a Warm Fuzzy. It tells the person that they are special. It is a way of saying "I like you." And, of course, it is very pleasing to you, when you take it and feel its warmth and fuzziness against your cheek, just extra-nice. You feel noticed and appreciated when someone gives you a Warm Fuzzy, and you want to do something nice for them in return.

The little people of Swabeedoo loved to give Warm Fuzzies and get Warm Fuzzies, and their lives together were very happy indeed.

Outside the village, in a cold, dark cave, there lived a great green troll. He didn't really like to live all by himself, and sometimes he was lonely. But he couldn't seem to get along with anyone else, and somehow he didn't enjoy exchanging Warm Fuzzies. He thought it was a lot of nonsense. "It isn't cool," was what he would say.

One evening the troll walked into town, and he was met by a kingly little Swabeedoo-dah. "Hasn't this been a fine Swabeedoo-dah day?" said the little person with a smile. "Here, have a Warm Fuzzy. This one's special, and I saved it just for you, for I don't see you in town that often."

The troll looked about to see that no one else was listening. Then he put an arm around the little Swabeedoo-dah and whispered in his ear. "Hey, don't you know that if you give away all your Warm Fuzzies, one of these Swabeedoo-dah days of yours, you're gonna run out of them?" He noted the sudden look of surprise and fear on the little man's face, and then added, peering inside of his fuzzy-bag: "Right now I'd say you've only got about two hundred and seventeen Warm Fuzzies left there. Better go easy on handin' 'em out." With that, the troll padded away on his big green feet, leaving a very confused and unhappy Swabeedoo-dah standing there.
Now, the troll knew that every one of the little people had an inexhaustible supply of Warm Fuzzies. He knew that, as soon as you give a Warm Fuzzy to someone, another one comes to take its place and that you can never, ever run out of Warm Fuzzies in your whole life. But he counted on the trusting nature of the little Swabeedoo-dahs, and on something else that he knew about himself. He just wanted to see if this same something was inside the little people. So, he told his fib, went back to his cave, and waited.

Well, it didn't take long. The first person to come along and greet the little Swabeedoo-dah was a fine friend of his, with whom he had exchanged many Warm Fuzzies before. This little person was surprised to find that when he gave his friend a Warm Fuzzy this time, he received only a strange look. Then he was told to beware of running low on his supply of Warm Fuzzies, and his friend was suddenly gone.

That Swabeedoo-dah told three other that same evening: "I'm sorry, but no Warm Fuzzy for you. I've got to make sure I don't run out." By the next day, the word had spread over the entire village. Everyone had suddenly begun to hoard their Warm Fuzzies. They still gave some away, but very, very carefully. "Discriminatingly," they said.

The little Swabedoo-dahs began to watch each other with distrust, and they began to hide their bags of Warm Fuzzies under their beds for protection at night. Quarrels broke out over who had the most Warm Fuzzies, and pretty soon people began to trade Warm Fuzzies for things, instead of just giving them away. Figuring there were only so many Warm Fuzzies to go around, the mayor of Swabeedoo proclaimed the Fuzzies a system of exchange, and before long the people were haggling over how many Warm Fuzzies it cost to eat a meal at someone's house or stay overnight.

On some dark evenings-the kind the little Swabeedoo-dahs had enjoyed for strolling in the parks and greeting each other to exchange Warm Fuzzies-it wasn't safe to be out and about. Worst of all, something began to happen to the health of the little people. Many of them began to complain of pains in their shoulders and backs, and as time went on, more and more little Swabeedoo-dahs became afflicted with a disease known as softening of the backbone. They walked all hunched over, or (in the worst cases) bent almost to the ground. Their fuzzy-bags dragged on the ground. Many people in town began to say that it was the weight of the bags that caused the disease, and that it was better to leave the bags at home, locked up safely. After a while, you could hardly find a Swabeedoo-dah with his fuzzy-bag on.
At first the troll was pleased with the results of his rumor. He had wanted to see whether the little people would feel and act as he did sometimes when he thought selfish thoughts, and so he felt successful with the way things were going. Now, when he went into town, he was no longer greeted with smiles and offerings of Warm Fuzzies. Instead, the little people looked at him as they looked at each other -with suspicion- and he rather liked that. To him, that was just facing reality. "It's the way the world is," he would say.

But as time went on, worst things happened. Perhaps because of the softening of the backbone, perhaps because no one ever gave them a Warm Fuzzie (no one knows), a few of the little people died. Now, all the happiness was gone from the village of Swabeedoo, as it mourned the passing of its little citizens. When the troll heard about this, he said to himself: "Gosh! I just wanted them to see how the world was. I didn't mean for 'em to die!" He wondered what to do. And then thought of a plan. Deep in his cave, the troll had discovered a secret mine of Cold Pricklies. He had spent many years digging the Cold Prickles out of the mountain, for he liked their cold and prickly feel, and he loved to see his growing hoard of Cold Pricklies, to know that they were all his. He decided to share them with the Swabeedoo-dahs. He filled hundreds of bags with Cold Prickles and took them into the village. When the people saw the bags of Cold Prickles, they were glad, and they received them gratefully. Now they had something to give to one another. The only trouble was that it was just not as much fun to give a Cold Prickly as a warm Fuzzy.

Giving a Cold Prickly seemed to be a way of reaching out to another person, but not in friendship and love. And getting a Cold Prickly gave one a funny feeling too. You were not sure just what the giver meant, for after all, Cold Prickles were cold and prickly. It was nice to get something from another person, but it left you confused, and often with stung fingers.

The usual thing a Swabeedoo-dah said when he received a Warm Fuzzy was "WOW!" but when someone gave him a Cold Prickly, there was usually nothing to say but "UGH!" Some of the little people went back to giving Warm Fuzzies, and of course, each time a Warm Fuzzy was given it made the giver and receiver very joyful indeed. Perhaps it was that it was so unusual, to get a Warm Fuzzy from someone when there were so many of those Cold Pricklies being exchanged.

But giving Warm Fuzzies never really came back into style in Swabeedoo.
Some little people found that they could keep on giving Warm Fuzzies away without ever having their supplies run out, but the art of giving a Warm Fuzzy was not shared by many. Suspicion was still there, in the minds of the people of Swabeedoo. You could hear it in their comments:

"Warm Fuzzy, eh? Wonder what's behind it." "I never know if my Warm Fuzzies are really appreciated." "I gave a Warm Fuzzy, and got a Cold Prickly in return. Just see if I do that again." "You never know about Mabel. A Warm Fuzzy one minute, and Cold Prickly the next!" "I won't give you a Cold Prickly, if you won't give me one." "I want to give my boy a Warm Fuzzy, but he just doesn't deserve it." "Sometimes I wonder if Grandpa has a Warm Fuzzy to his name."
Probably every citizen of Swabeedoo would gladly have returned to the former days when the giving and getting of Warm Fuzzies had been so common. Sometimes a little person would think to himself how very fine it had felt to get a Warm Fuzzy from someone, and he would resolve to go out and begin giving them to everyone freely, as of old. But something always stopped him, like going out to see "how the world was". It was the softening of the backbone.


Good Luck! Make it a year where you give out plenty of warm fuzzies :) THANKS!!

Melinda

Warm Fuzzy Goal

I love goals. I believe I can credit this to the personal progress program. Working on personal progress I started setting goals at a young age. To this day I love setting goals. Some of us are good at setting a big goal and just going for it. Some of us need to set mini goals to achieve our big goal. I do both:)

Today I'm going to share an idea for keeping track of goals for the year long service project. This idea came from a talk President Monson gave titled "What Have I Done for Someone Today?". (November 2009 Ensign)

"I was overwhelmed when this year for my birthday I received hundreds of cards and letters from members of the Church around the world telling me how they had fulfilled that birthday wish. The acts of service ranged from assembling humanitarian kits to doing yard work.

Dozens and dozens of Primaries challenged the children to provide service, and then those acts of service were recorded and sent to me. I must say that the methods for recording them were creative. Many came in the form of pages put together into various shapes and sizes of books. Some contained cards or pictures drawn or colored by the children. One very creative Primary sent a large jar containing hundreds of what they called “warm fuzzies,” each one representing an act of service performed during the year by one of the children in the Primary. I can only imagine the happiness these children experienced as they told of their service and then placed a “warm fuzzy” in the jar. " (You can read the full article HERE)

Isn't President Monson wonderful? He makes me smile :) I love the idea of a "warm fuzzy". I knew exactly what he was talking about as he gave this talk. One of these...



As I was thinking of ideas of how groups could keep track of their goals for our service project in a fun way this primary's ideas came to mind. It's perfect! We are knitting, crocheting and making blankets to help keep people warm. Putting a warm fuzzy in a jar after you make an item to help keep someone warm makes perfect sense. Plus who can resist a warm fuzzy?? My kids love them and even I think they are adorable.
Another thought came into mind as I thought about the warm fuzzy. Often when people talk about feeling the Spirit's influence they describe feeling a warm feeeling inside. I believe helping people physically to be warm by crocheting them a hat will help each of us have that warm fuzzy feeling inside too.

So....Go out and find your group a big glass jar and find some warm fuzzies. I found mine at a local craft store.

Some of you may want to measure mini goals. Use smaller fun vases (maybe personalize them with their names) and they can dump them into the larger jar once they fill their personal one. You can find cheap jars at IKEA or even the Goodwill.



Please keep track of your completed projects and inform me of your numbers. I would love to make something up for President Monson when we are done. I think he will love to hear what our beautiful YW have done :)

I'm working on my map right now and just waiting for pictures of your groups. It's OK if everyone doesn't end up in the picture. Believe me...I know how hard that is! We are up to 22 different wards from around the world. It will be fun to see in the pictures how different our groups are.
Just a few other details. If any activity days groups are interested in joining our project they are certainly welcome. Those girls are our future YW. Also I've altered the hat patterns I sent to all of you a few times. If you need it to be a smaller size let me know :)

THANKS!!!


Melinda

Heart 2 Heart Service Project Intro

Hello Ladies! If you are reading this blog it's because you've expressed interest in being part of our YW. Let me introduce myself really quick! My name is Melinda Beachell. I live in Battleground, Washington. Here in Battleground we have a group of 25 YW (5 more coming in early next year!). I'm a mom of four young children and run a small business online. That's me in a nutshell...feel free to introduce yourself also!

Let's get started on what's going on for next year... I want to clarify just a few minor details. First you don't have to use the patterns I send you! Be creative if you have something else in mind do it! Share with us what you are doing. Second if you don't have the time to participate all year and just want to dedicate 1 or 2 activities to the project...THAT IS GREAT!!! Last, if you would no longer like to participate or got on this e-mail list by accident please let me know and I will take you off. Thank you all so much. I think is going to be a lot of fun. Something the YW will never forget :)

In my last post I mentioned we would have a Sunday lesson about service and then introduce the YW to the project we will be doing the following year. That will happen tomorrow. To read the story our lesson will be based on and also the handout we will be giving each of the YW please click HERE. While introducing what is going happen with this service project I plan to have a map and put pins in the areas of where other YW groups will be working on service. That's where you wonderful women come in.

Early next year I'm hoping to put pictures of the different groups on our YW bulletin board. Our map will also be posted on that bulletin board. I'm hoping each of you would be willing to e-mail me a picture of your YW group and I will then in return I will e-mail the groups pictures out to each of you. Patterns will be e-mailed out tomorrow along with pictures of the projects. Later today you will receive a pattern for the red dress from the story I will share with you below. Am I forgetting anything? The patterns and certain details won't be posted. I will e-mail them. I just want to thank each of you for being so great and participating. I look forward to getting to know each of you better :)